Oregon Water Conditions Report<\/a>, the state is heading into the spring with a significantly reduced water supply. <\/p>\nSnowpack statewide is at just 29% of normal, with every basin in Oregon well below average.<\/p>\n
It’s the second-worst snowpack on record, behind the 2015 winter season. <\/p>\n
The report also shows drought conditions are already expanding, with more than 20% of the state in moderate drought and over 4% in severe drought.<\/p>\n
Water managers say those conditions are already forcing difficult decisions ahead of the irrigation season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis drought is probably one of the most severe, if not the worst on record,\u201d said Craig Horrell, managing director of the Central Oregon Irrigation District.<\/p>\n
Droughts can have significant economic impacts on several industries across the state.<\/p>\n
Horrell says districts are preparing for significant shortages, with some areas expecting about half of their normal water supply and smaller districts potentially running out of water as early as July.<\/p>\n
That could directly impact farmers, who may have to scale back production. <\/p>\n
Hay yields are expected to be especially low, which could drive up feed costs and force some ranchers to reduce their herds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey get one cutting instead of three cuttings,\u201d said Horrell. \u201cAnd when you look at high-dollar value crops, they choose not to plant them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that recent drought years are becoming more common, noting this is the first time in more than a century that the district has had to repeatedly cut water deliveries.<\/p>\n
READ THE EXECUTIVE ORDER:<\/p>\n
Last week, NOAA issued their official spring outlook. <\/p>\n
Meteorologists are forecasting above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation for spring and going into summer.<\/p>\n
“Heat plays a role in how fast we go through the water,” said Horrell. “If we have a cooler summer, the supplies, we can stretch out a little bit longer. If we get a really hot summer, it evaporates and goes away faster.”<\/p>\n
With snowpack already at critically low levels, a prolonged stretch of heat or continued lack of precipitation could further strain irrigation systems and deepen the impacts on farmers across the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALEM, Ore. (KATU) \u2014 Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has issued her first drought declaration of the year. READ…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-557113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}